U.S. Islamist Group Alleges that 'Discrimination Is American Way'

An interfaith dinner was held on July 27 at the Islamic Society of Frederick in Maryland, featuring local officials and Christian clergy. One of the speakers, a former leader of the "moderate" Islamic Circle of North America, explained its purpose: "Discrimination is part of the American way," he explained, and "The only way to control that is to make alliances."

The Islamic Circle of North America's parent group is a Pakistani Islamist party named Jamaat-e-Islami. A Bangladeshi court just barred Jamaat-e-Islami from elections because of its opposition to the country's secular governance. One of the former Secretary-Generals of ICNA, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, is on trial in absentia in Bangladesh for alleged war crimes he committed as a member of Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing. The Investigative Project on Terrorism discovered that Khan remains on the board of ICNA's New York chapter.

ICNA is mentioned repeatedly in a 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memorandum. The author refers to meetings between Muslim Brotherhood and ICNA officials about a planned "merger" and the New York-based group is listed as one of "our organizations and the organizations of our friends."